The Egyptian Obelisk. The Egyptian Obelisk was presented to the city of New York by the Khedive of Egypt. Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe, U. S. N., after three years' struggle, obtained possession of the Obelisk, and moved it to its present position, Central Park, New York city, at an expense of nearly $100,000. It was finally swung into position at noon, Jan- uary 22, 1881. The height of the Obelisk, from base to tip, is 69 feet 2 inches. The measurement of the base, square through its axis, is 7 feet 82 inches. The entire weight of the monolith is 2191 tons. Since it was quarried near the torrid zone, it has traversed the en- tire length of Egypt, most of that of the Mediterranean Sea, and the whole width of the Atlantic Ocean / a distance of 6400 miles, prov- ing itself a first-rate sailor for an old salt of thirty-five centuries; having in the course of its long existence seen Moses; Pharaoh and his host going to their destruction in the Red Sea; Shishak marching to the conquest of Jerusalem; Cambyses desolating the land; Herod- otus, Solon, Plato, and other Greek students of Egyptian lore; Alex- ander the Great on his victorious expedition through the Land of Goshen; six and a half centuries of Roman sovereignty and Christian struggle at Alexandria; all the long line of Moslem rulers since Caliph Omar; and now looking down upon the million dwellers of New York city, whose site even was unknown to the Eastern world when this Obelisk had an existence of two thousand years. 48